Fighting for Freedom

Growing up in the United States with a Slavic background has its ups and downs. Since I moved to the United States at age 9, there's not much that I remember about Belarus. I clearly remember the first day in an American school, walking into my third grade class in tears, clueless of what to expect. But, like most children, I quickly adapted.

There's only a few classes that I remember enjoying, and one of those was history class. I don't know why history has always been one of my passions. Perhaps it was because, as I was growing up, I often heard story after story about the difficult life my parents and especially their parents experienced, living under a tyrannical government, the former Soviet Union, run entirely by the communist party.

Remembering all those stories in my adult life, I always tried to understand why my great grandfather, Alexander Pavlovich, had to endure over 10 years of deadly persecution, simply because he had a different point of view on the world and disagreed with the government's unjust policies toward minority groups. Or later why my grandmother, Valentina Michaelovna, and my father, Vasiliy, were constantly bullied by their peers for simply being Christian.

One does not have to look far to understand that what we are seeing in the United States today is simply the beginning of history repeating itself. Maybe all of this unraveling in the United States drove me to be more bold and speak out, in my own way, with urgency against what is so clearly coming – and, in many ways, what is already here.

I don't understand completely why more of my fellow Slavic friends don't do anything about it. Growing up, most were told that we don't involve ourselves in politics. But I never understood that. For too long we have used that excuse, but maybe the real reason is fear.

Looking at the situation in Ukraine, I'm sure many who are now displaced and those who are picking up arms to defend their livelihoods regret not doing more to prevent what's happening in the region where my family came from and so many still reside.

No matter how you look at the conflict in that region, war is never the right answer. I hope our country uses this situation as an example of what not to do and doesn’t allow ourselves to get to that point. Personally, I never paid too much attention to the whole conflict. It was so divisive and caused the community to mistreat each other, especially those who live in United States now and are not personally affected by it. But I do think it’s important to at least try to understand it, and that’s what I’m doing now.

I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes from a United States founding father. Outside of the Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, someone asked Benjamin Franklin, “...what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

I hope all of us can take this example and think of ways we can do more for own cities and communities. It only takes a few people to impact and change the direction in which we are heading. That means some of us will run for local office, while others can pick up our iPhone and become citizen journalists. Others can simply assist existing groups that support a shared mission. As long as we continue fighting for the freedoms that we came here for, we will continue believing that we have hope and that history is on our side.

It's your turn to join the ever-growing army of freedom fighters. Start your own movement or join groups like ours, Slavic Vote. Start by educating yourself, and then offer hope to the next person you meet.